At the very beginning of their Christian journey, brothers and sisters who have just been born of the Spirit are confronted with problems. These problems come in many forms and on many levels. Our world is turning upside down. Most of us experience the same thing: rejection by our families. Others have problems with marriage, finances, health, children, etc.
This is what the quote from John 16 as in the title tells us:
"(33) This I have told you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but trust, I have overcome the world."
What does the word oppression mean?
Before I give the defining terms, please read the same quote, but from the Study Bible:
" (33) I have made it known to you that you may have peace in Me. The world will oppress youBut trust, I have overcome the world.
So the Lord Jesus here announces tribulation from the world, that is, the whole system opposing God. To see the system opposing God, one must first see the kingdom of God on earth.
Sadly, though, the life of a Christian, at least in the initial stages, is doomed to tribulation.
What is it in dictionary terms?
From the above description we can clearly see, the action of external forces on our persons.
We feel squished, pressed down.
From the Greek, oppression translates as Thlipsis (the original θλῖψις), meaning emotional and spiritual tension that can be caused by external pressure.
In the New Testament, "oppression" occurs about 55 times.
So it is impossible to be a born again Christian and yet not feel oppression from the world.
Many of us suffer for various reasons, but as it is written in Romans 8:
"16) This Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are children of God. (17) And if children, then also heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with himthat we may also be glorified with him.
Suffering is part of war. Can you imagine a war in which soldiers go to war thinking for example: "oh, so that they don't shoot at us" or "how to hide here so that we don't get in the middle of the fighting".
In the same letter to the Romans we have:
", God cannot be pleased with them. (9) But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. (10) But if Christ is in you, then although the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is made alive through justification. (11) And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then he who raised Jesus Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies by his Spirit who dwells in you. (12) So, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. (13) For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if by the Spirit ye put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live. (14) For those whom the Spirit of God leads are children of God. (15) For you have not taken the spirit of bondage to be afraid again, but you have taken the spirit of sonshipin which we cry out: Abba, Father! (16) This Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are children of God."
We have not taken the spirit of fear to be captives full of fear again. Man not born again is a captive of the forces of darkness.
The role of compressions.
Tribulations are also for each of us to be exercised in faith.
I explain it all downhill by comparing compression to working out in the gym. You won't work out your muscles if you don't feel the pressure. That's what it's all about, the resistance, the pressure, the weight.
It is the same in life. Man gets heavier and heavier burdens.
The comfort in this is that God will never bring us into the storm unless He gives us His strength and gives us a greater burden than we can bear.
The Lord Jesus was tempted for 40 days, but it was only three temptations that were mentioned. It was only after these 40 days that our Lord began His ministry. He returned in the power of the Spirit from the wilderness.
We are also given the power for this fight:
Flp1
"For to you grace has been given that you may not only believe in Christ, but also To suffer for Him. (30) For you are fighting the same (as I am) battle. You used to look at it, and now you hear about it."
"For to you has been given grace" - that is, power.
2 Corinthians 10
"Although we live as humans, we are not guided by human considerations in battle. (4) The weapons we use in battleFor it is not purely human, but contains the powers of God...that demolish even fortified strongholds. We demolish reasonings"
Is it not the case that through the actions of individuals, whether on the Internet or in the so-called real world, by the power of God, we demolish the reasoning of the people of the world?
The bigger the battle, the bigger the victory.
2 Tim 2
Bear with me hardships like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. (4) No one, enlisting in the army, takes care of his own ordinary affairs if he wants to please the one who enlisted him. (5) And if someone stands up to compete, they don't get a wreath if they didn't compete according to the rules. (6) The farmer who toils should be the first to enjoy the harvest. (7)Think about what I am saying. And the Lord will enable you to understand everything. (8) Remember the descendant of David Jesus Christ who rose from the dead as I preach in my gospel, (9) For which like a villain I endure suffering, even bonds. But the word of God cannot be bound!
To recap, we walked away from the world. In the beginning the world claimed us. Now the world in spiritual terms is fighting battles with us.
What is the purpose of this battle and tribulation?
2 Timothy 4.7-8, "I have fought the good fight, I have run the race, I have kept the faith. And now the crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved his coming."
Sadly, many Christians believe in God because they want to have a peaceful and prosperous life in a world ruled by Lucifer instead of hoping for eternal life in the Kingdom of God, forgetting the very words of Jesus speaking of oppression by this world and spurn by people who oppose God.
The great deception is to turn our attention from heaven to earth, from the true God to ourselves, from self-denial to self-acceptance, self-love, and self-respect, from God's truth to Satan's lie. At the heart of this deception are seemingly very spiritual doctrines, whereby we abandon love for Christ and the expectation of His return in favor of earthly ambition, the subjugation of society, and the transformation of this world into the paradise once lost to Adam and Eve.
Whatever Happened to Heaven? Dave Hunt (p.308)
Even in the book of Nehemiah there is mention of the great tribulation...9,36 "Behold, today we are slaves in the land which you gave to our forefathers." This situation was brought about by disobeying God's Law and as a result the farmlands, olive groves came under the stewardship of the foreign Ammonites, Jebusites and other nations that inhabited Israel.9.37 Rev.Nehemiah "...They rule over our bodies and our cattle according to their pleasure.In great tribulation we are." Doesn't this remind us of the present time?
My mother cried for half a day saying that I couldn't do anything worse to her. She calmed down a bit when I assured her that I would drive her to church in her old age. Of course, there wasn't even a hint of any explanation that I wasn't crazy and my decision was supported by 5 years of studying Scripture, history, etc. At least my dad was honest because he said he wasn't interested in God's rules because he had his own. In general, I know a lot of Catholics who don't care about God but go to church for the fellowship and tradition.
"So far temptation has not come upon you,
that would exceed human strength; but
God is faithful and will not allow you to be
Tempted beyond your strength, but with temptation
will give and way, that ye may be able to bear them."-( 1 Corinthians 10:13)Warsaw Bible
So let us strengthen ourselves in the Lord, and he will give us strength.
"So it is impossible to be a born again Christian and at the same time not feel oppression from the world."- it seems to me that many "Christians" like Kamil Bazelak mentioned by me and Chnnews.pl today either don't understand the meaning of these words, or are outright shocked by them. And of course it's not about the "oppression of the left", which is allegedly so painfully oppressing the mentally and spiritually enslaved Polish Roman Catholics blindly observing Rydzyk and Bergoglio, completely unaware that it is the organization they trust the most in the world, which ironically is their real oppressor. I think that this statement, or rather the reaction to it, is a good litmus test for determining whether we are dealing with a true follower of Jesus Christ or just a poser.
It is not easy to reject the lies instilled from a young age, which one treats as part of one's being....
For this it requires divine intervention, for which the majority later hold a grudge against the Creator, since the sudden realization, or rather cognitive shock turns the seemingly orderly life of many of them upside down and they experience an unpleasant feeling of discomfort.
Nothing to add, nothing to take away. I have noticed that for many people blissful ignorance is better than painful awareness of the truth about this world. Satan's system and tradition create such an atmosphere that the lost are not even aware of their ignorance. I also believe that only the Lord Jesus can break this vicious circle by revealing Himself to the lost.
I think Catholics mostly trust in their Church, they don't know any other Church, they think that the priest's reading of the Scriptures at Mass is enough, after all, he's the one who studied and should be able to tell them what to do and how to do it. They fulfill their "duties": confession, communion, etc. The Church, according to them, teaches nothing wrong, it says: don't steal, love your neighbour, love God, but the surroundings of statues and adoration of Mary or the changed commandment? If you have not come across a Protestant who will explain in black and white that you practice idolatry, you have to start researching on your own. Contrary to appearances, this knowledge does not lie on the street. I know many Catholics who truly love God and believe in salvation and that in the church they have learned everything they need to be saved. Change does not come easily because you have to change and reevaluate your whole life.
And that is why they cannot be condemned. A dialogue must be established. The other thing is that mutual relations are extremely difficult, given that these are followers of - as most readers here agree - the Great Whore.
wow, I have something good, a rebuttal to the argument that there are 30,000 denominations using the Bible and without tradition and the pope they are divided - http://www.bible.ca/sola-scriptura-anti-refuted-division.htm
Hi Peter, I see there was quite a storm yesterday under the article about youtubers, and I think I know where it started from. But I'll just email you the information for your private perusal.
I just confirmed one thing while reading these comments. Strike the table and the scissors will speak - or translated into our language: Strike the idol, and the followers will speak. 🙂
It hurt me the most when I read comments from people who claim to believe in God, but for them to write about evil and sin is inappropriate. Oh there are many lukewarm Christians in the world, oh many.
They think that if they believe and go to church they are okay before God, no matter how they spend their daily lives. It's sad, but you can see how Catholicism affects faith in God. They say, "If I do some rituals, I'll be all right before God," and Jesus will say to them at the judgment: "Get away from me! I do not know you!"
Admin what is your email address?
admin @ detectiveprawdy.pl
sorry if this is on a different subject:
but I guess that's how a destructive sect works, fortunately God is not a bureaucrat and will not look by the records, but by our faith.
http://wiadomosci.onet.pl/religia/apostazja-nie-sprawia-ze-ktos-przestaje-byc-katolikiem/2v7ew#mark
Θλίψη is simply sorrow, suffering, worry. It is exactly what a child of God feels when looking at this wicked world:-( And what he experiences from the world.
https://el.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/θλίψη
Moving away from the topic. Poles instead of converting to God the Father and Jesus Christ atheize or convert to various forms of paganism. This is caused, among others, by the harmful activities of Krk, who compromises Christianity and by the overwhelming influence of Luciferian propaganda (putting the carnal needs before the spiritual), which poisons minds from an early age.
The truth 🙁 after all, the stereotypical image of a mohair-clad, venom-spitting Roman Catholic parishioner doesn't come from nothing. The hierarchs of the Catholic Church create such believers-bigots and wickedly use human ignorance and weaknesses to make Christianity as disgusting as possible to outsiders.
Or they chase after bread so much that they get lost in it all. For the rest, Satan's system violently forces them to do this and only a few are able to resist it.
The demoralization and depravity of societies is reaching its peak...Just a little more and humanity will cease to exist unless God stops this grim spectacle.
Praise the Lord that He does not allow us to be tested beyond our capacity, this realization sustains me very often.
I thank God Most High also for giving me strength and equipping me with all that enables me to face daily tribulations: "I can do all things in him who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13)
If by doing well and following Jesus Christ we endure suffering, it is meritorious with God:
"For what glory is it if you endure the slapping for sins? But it is a merit with God if you endure suffering while doing good. For to this you are called, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you a pattern to follow in his steps! He, "who committed no sin, neither was falsehood found in his mouth. When He was maligned, He did not retaliate with malice; suffering, He did not threaten, trusting in Him who judges righteously. (1 Peter 2:20-23).
Jesus Himself trusted in tribulations to the One Who judges righteously. In the same way, let us not trust ourselves to face oppression from the world, but let us put our hope in God to protect us:
"Truly we were already fully assured that our death was decreed, that we should not depend on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead, who from so great a danger of death has delivered us and will deliver us; in him we also hope that he will continue to deliver us." (1 Corinthians 1:9-10)
Thank you for a very faith-strengthening article,
and for his excellent ending, which reminds us of our hope, what our purpose is, what we are striving for.
We must keep that hope always before our eyes.
"Rejoice in hope. In tribulation be patient, in prayer be steadfast." (Romans 12:12)
And finally, the beloved psalm 27 (verses 1 and 3) about putting our hope in the Lord:
"The Lord is my light and my salvation:
Who should I fear?
The Lord's defense of my life:
Who am I to be afraid of?
(...)
Even though there was a camp facing me,
my heart will not fear;
even if war broke out against me,
even then I will be full of confidence."
Thank you Kasia for this Psalm 🙂
Magdulka I had a good situation with this psalm recently...I had a bad moment at work, and I went to the bathroom, looked in the mirror and started to say these passages from the psalm to myself...and just when I finished speaking and the light went out 😀 it came on again in a moment 😉
🙂 🙂 🙂
awesome!